Posts
Here's mine:
Chris is to an improv show as your beloved uncle in a bear suit is to your 6th birthday party - slightly strange, potentially creepy, but ultimately re-assuring, silly and fun. More than most improvisers - he applies the lessons of good acting, and practices good fundamentals (like object work, stage picture etc). He holds onto his characters hard and yes-ands his own character tics. He can direct traffic in a messy scene without breaking the reality of the action. He's super patient, but never uncomitted - which is a tough trick. The three things I would ask of him are: try not to laugh at your own jokes, try playing impatiently every once in a while - a little manic energy never killed anyone, and take off the bear suit - it's making everyone uncomfortable.
I thought that was pretty interesting. At a time, when I'm struggling a little bit with who I am on the team and in the improv community, it's nice to get a little feedback. Some of it was very, very good - "the lessons of good actng and practices good fundamentals" and "super patient, but never uncommitted" really made my day. And so that is nice.
I'm not so sure about the underlying implication of creepiness. I don't know if it's because I intentionally try to play creepy characters. As I sometimes do. Or if it's because there's something genuinely creepy going on, that I have no idea about. Am I unintentionally creepy? Hm, something to think about.
Well, It gives you a little bit of perspective. More information to throw on the pile.
Also, he's right, I giggle at my own jokes, at moves that other improvisers make and at well... any damn thing. I gotta work on that one. That and the creepy thing.
Cheers,
Mr.B
2 comments:
Inside the bear costume.
Creepy: You’ll note, the original comment read “POTENTIALLY creepy”, and contrasted that with “ultimately reassuring”.
So – with everyone, I tried to come up with a fun, funny impressionistic description of their play. I was hoping to have the wacky analogies add a grain of salt to whatever I was saying, but also to capture something essential about who they were as a player. Also, I was enjoying the creative writing exercise I set out for myself.
With you, I was going to use the idea of Spirit Animals – the Native American idea that animals can be an atavistic signifier of human qualities. My first impulse was to say your spirit animal is the Bear – because bears have a patient intelligence (which you play with), are methodical and deliberate (as you are onstage), and physically show their weight in their movements (you are very rooted, though not stiff). But for some reason, Bear just didn’t quite fit (can’t explain why – the whole exercise was about finding an “impressionistic” description after all). And I decided your spirit animal was actually a human in a bear costume - which I thought was kind of amusing. Then I started thinking about instances when people dress up like animals and how other people react to them. My neice, for example is intensely afraid of people dressed up in those types of costumes. I think, generally, people have a small instinct to mistrust adults in costumes – think of how closely you would watch Mickey Mouse’s hands when he stoops to hug your child. So in my mind, the point was how you the “beloved uncle” would defuse a situation “adult in a bear costume” that is ripe for creepiness. But, at the same time, you the improviser are comfortable in potentially creepy situations and are able to move through them in a reassuring, silly and fun way.
But all of that preceding information isn’t poetic and fun.
Ah, the author himself speaks.
Thanks for the clarification. That makes much more sense. And after a little reflection, I think that there's humor in creepy situations and creepy characters. Things that are a little dark or a little macabre. That's funny to me and I like to see that explored onstage. Whether I'm doing it or not.
Take the submarine scene with Chrissy on Sunday. In my head, I knew that it was creepy to be one submarine officer leering so malevalently at another submarine office, but that was the "game" of the scene for me. Such naked want of another person, masked behind the flimisiest pretense of "being a Navy guy". That incongruity is funny to me. (But to get to it, you have to sufficiently project "creepy, naked want" and that is, by definition, creepy.)
With the context that you provided, though, the "man in bear suit" makes sense as a spirit animal avatar. Especially given the clear connections that you're drawing.
It was a fun email to read. I liked reading everyone else's descriptions as much as my own.
Cheers,
Mr.B
Post a Comment